


I Heard The Singing Of Your Wings' Retreat

by Tournesol



Series: Stand Alone Chronicles [2]
Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Dogs, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 07:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5657059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tournesol/pseuds/Tournesol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snafu goes home to Sledge and their dogs at the end of a long day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Heard The Singing Of Your Wings' Retreat

**Author's Note:**

> A little continuation set in the same 'verse as Stand Alone. 
> 
> Title is from the poem ["To Eros"](http://www.poetrynook.com/poem/eros-16) by Wilfred Owen, from the book [jspringsteen](http://archiveofourown.org/users/jspringsteen/pseuds/jspringsteen) got me for Christmas. It's not related to the content of the fic but I was pretty uninspired about titles so I flipped the book open at random and liked the ring of this verse.
> 
> Usual disclaimer that this is based on the fictional characters from the show and that I mean no disrespect to the actual veterans.

The clock in the kitchen indicates it’s 9:52 pm, way past the hour Merriell meant to be home. He’d been looking forward to go home and have a dinner date with Eugene, would have been home on time if not for the accident that had the highway jammed until then. He’d got lucky enough to be able to stop at a gas station until traffic resumed, calling Eugene to tell him not to wait up.

He calls for Eugene, seeing the light in the bedroom on, but gets no response. He feels a pang when he crosses their small kitchen, sees the table set for two, untouched, despite telling Eugene not to wait. Wasted potential. They’ve seen too much of it, lived it and it still keeps haunting them in small inane moments like these. 

He makes his way to the bedroom, dim light guiding his footsteps like a beacon.   
For a second an irrational part of his brain is telling him that Eugene is giving him the silent treatment, even though he knows it’s not in Eugene’s character to do so. When he gets to their bedroom he stops dead in his tracks right there at the threshold, the sight before him having his chest constrict on a half inhale. 

Eugene fell asleep in his clothes, a book lying forgotten on his chest. He looks so peaceful in sleep, especially with Akela and Jeudi curled close against him.  
Merriell smiles his rueful smile, his heart brimming with feeling for the man in front of him, for the life he’s been gifted with ever since they went back to their senses and decided to stop fighting and fearing what might be between the two of them. 

His treacherous brain conjures the memory of another instance where he got to see Eugene like that, the echo of the pain of stepping off the train and leaving Eugene asleep and alone alive like a phantom limb.

He takes two shaky breaths and tries to remember Eugene’s forgiving words, tries not to let the past loom over them when their lives now contain the promise of a million tomorrows. Merriell never thought of himself as lucky. He’s always thought of himself as a poor bastard who’d tricked the odds, but the warm feeling spreading through his chest is having him revise that opinion.   
He feels he’ll never be the man Eugene sees in him, but rather than flight now he’s willing to fight for it. 

As if sensing Merriell’s emotional turmoil, Eugene frowns in his sleep and lets out the feeblest hum, cutting on a sigh, reaching with his arms as if in search of something, of someone. It’s a sight so endearing still, enough to have Merriell cross the room.

He cannot erase the past , but he’s presented with a situation so alike one from it that it feels like a second chance. It’s a step forward instead of a step back, crossing a distance instead of expanding it. You cannot erase your history but you can prevent it from repeating itself.   
He doesn’t think, just has a thought to remove his shoes and then he’s climbing on the bed and lying next to Eugene, curling against him as much as possible without disturbing their sleeping canine companions and wrapping his arms around Eugene. 

Eugene wakes up with a start, an inevitability, but the tension seeps away from his limbs when he looks behind him and sees Merriell, a sleepy smile illuminating his features at the recognition and making Merriell’s heart skip a beat.

Merriell tightens his arms around Eugene and delights in feeling Eugene squirming to fit themselves ever closer. He kisses the red hair at the back of Eugene’s head and breathes deep until the scent of him has the worries of the day dissipate like smoke in the breeze.

“You didn’t havta wait,” murmurs Merriell against Eugene’s hair. 

“Didn’t meant to. I settled down to read and then I couldn’t move because the dogs were asleep. Then I feel asleep. By the way your dog snores.”

Merriell lets out a booming laugh at that that shakes through the both of them, having Eugene join in. It’s a better thought than thinking about what Eugene would have thought if he hadn’t had been able to call him, how he’d have worried. His maudlin train of thought is interrupted by Eugene’s stomach rumbling in protest, reminding them of more pressing needs.

“What do you say we go eat something before get stuck to the bed for good,” asks Merriell.

It’s Akela who replies for the both of them with an ecstatic yap that has them stumbling to the kitchen laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](http://hugatreeortwo.tumblr.com)


End file.
